No. 5 Kailua rallies past Kaiser, 9-4

Kailua's Dalton Kalama round third base after hitting a home run against Kaiser. Greg Yamamoto | SL

KAILUA— Fifth ranked Kailua (6-1) put the loss against Castle (3-4) on Wednesday behind them as the Surfriders scored seven runs in the final two innings to rally past Kaiser (5-2), 9-4 to take sole possession of first place in the Oahu Interscholastic Association East Division standings on an overcast Saturday morning at Kailua's field.

"Being able to come back is where the good teams are made and today was a good day and they pulled through when we needed them to," said Kailua coach Corey Ishigo.

The Surfriders and Cougars combined for 27 runs and 30 hits in their season opener on Mar. 4.

Dalton Kalama went 4-for-4 and hit a home run, Kalei Kealoha-Machado went 3-for-3 and an RBI and Noah Auld went 1-for-3, 3RBI and scored two runs for the Surfriders.

Kalama led off with a single as Awa Byers came in as a courtesy runner and Noah Auld was hit by a pitch. The game was delayed in the bottom of the second due to rain. After resuming play, Keiki Kanahele-Santos scored Byers and Auld scored off of Kalei Kealoha-Machado's single to give Kailua an early 2-0 lead.

"They are a tough team and they put the ball in play and you have to be careful what you throw them. They took advantage of timely hitting and scored hard-earned runs," said first-year Kaiser coach Ryan Umemoto.

In the top of the third, Cantillo walked Omphroy and Keoni Pangan singled to left field. Kaiser tied the game up at 2 after Emmett Garcia's single to right field to bring in Omphroy and Pangan.

The Cougars found some offense in the top of the fourth after Emmett Covello hit a double to right field and Omphroy's bunt single. Kamalu Simeona hit a 2RBI double to score Covello and Omphroy to give Kaiser a 4-2 lead.

Kaiser made a pitching change going with Steven Miyata and then Shawn Miyashiro for the last two innings. Kailua's Joey Cantillo pitched five innings and recorded six strikeouts to get the ‘W' and Isaiah Kaeo-Cash came in for the final two innings to add two strikeouts.

"He knows we're going to catch his back no matter what. The little things like pick offs and that's going to work for him to get us back in the game," said Kalama, on the pitching and defense.

Dustin Imanaka was hit by a pitch and Brendan Odo and Kalama each hit singles in the top of the fifth to load the bases. Auld's 3RBI double to left center helped reclaim the lead for Kailua, making it 5-4. Noah Ah Yat's sacrifice bunt brought in Auld to add another run.

"I tried to get my runners in and help the team out to get the win," said Auld. "It shows we are a team that can come back and win from coming back."

"We had to put together some at-bats and hit how we're capable of hitting and it's about getting to the next at-bat in that inning," said Ishigo.

The Surfriders didn't let up as Kealoha-Machado singled to centerfield. An error allowed Imanaka to reach first and scored Kealoha-Machado. Kalama blasted a home run over the right field fence for the final score of the game.

"It felt solid, I made good contact with it. I wasn't really looking for a home run, just something to drive. We were down in the lower innings, but our coach fired us up a little bit and after that jolt came, we came back," said Kalama.

"I think everybody is pitching their best right now, it comes down to timely hitting and Kailua hit well when they needed to," said Umemoto.

Up next for the Surfriders is Roosevelt on Apr. 1 at Stevenson and the Cougars hope to rebound against Kaimuki on the same afternoon.

"We like that challenge of facing everybody's number one and it's a good process to go through to get ready for the playoffs," said Ishigo.

Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].